Another Sunday, another night of fantastic TV. As always, Game of Thrones is starting the season out pretty slow. But there were still some exciting moments in tonight’s episode. Click through for a recap, and add your own thoughts in the comments.

Riverrun

Don’t you hate it when someone botches a funeral by not being able to shoot an arrow correctly? I know I do. This week, Catelyn and Robb were in Catelyn’s home town of Riverrun for her father’s funeral. I don’t know much, other than that the war is going badly and Catelyn thinks her daughters are dead.

Tyrion

Only Game of Thrones can spend a full two minutes on people moving chairs about and still be interesting.

Tyrion had a lot of scenes this week, but none of them particularly stood out. He rewarded his squire, Podrick, for saving his life by footing the bill for three prostitutes to take his virginity. But I guess he’s so good at it that they don’t accept the money? Was that what we figured out?

Arya

Camp Brotherhood Without Banners

Arya’s chubby friend Hot Pie decided to part ways with her and Gendry so that he could be a baker, but the others moved on.

Not much is happening here yet, which is a shame since Arya is one of my favorite characters.

Missandrei

Astapor

Poor Khaleesi, she thinks she can win back the Iron Throne without shedding any blood of innocents. In exchange for her biggest dragon, Daeny bought 8,000 Unsullied soldiers and Missandrei, the interpreter. (Yep, I looked that name up.) Ser Jorah didn’t seem to agree with the transaction. I like where this storyline is going, but I’m itching for Daeny to take King’s Landing by storm.

Hostages

Jaime and Brienne were being held captive, and they’ve kind of become buddies – I like it. Jaime prevented the “Brave Companions” criminals from raping and killing Brienne, by telling them that her sapphire-rich father would pay for her safe, “unbesmirched” return. The episode ended on a surprising, gruesome note – the criminals cut off Jaime’s hand. Yikes! I never thought I’d be rooting for Jaime Lannister, but teaming him up with Brienne has made him more likable. That’s the appeal of Game of Thrones – characters change and you’re never sure who to root for.

5 Responses to Game of Thrones – Musical Chairs

Basically Daeny has been doing nothing for 2+ seasons except trying to find an army, it’s a little boring but I do think her compassion will be her undoing.

I also thought it ironic about Jaime and my feelings about him losing his hand where if this were half a season ago, I would have been cheering about him losing his hand. It is a strange moral universe where a guy that tossed a kid off a cliff can get the viewer’s sympathy.

The moving of the chairs, brilliant.

Also, I am pretty sure that Tywin is sending someone to visit Catelyn Stark’s sister, the widow Arryn, which means we are about to be treated to more of her weird ways. Not sure I am up to watch her breastfeed a teenager.

And what of Robb’s marriage to what’s-her-name? Isn’t there going to be a price to pay for him not marrying that other guy’s ugly daughter?

I’m a little surprised at the reaction to Jaime at this point. He is starting to come off more as a complex character and less as a two-dimensional bad guy, but I wouldn’t have expected so many people to sympathize with him at this point.

FYI, the people who cut off Jamie’s hand were not part of the Brave Companions. They’re not the same as in the book, but judging by their sigil, they’re part of House Bolton. (The stuffy non bearded dude that’s part of Rob’s entourage).

Also, hooray! We lost a character that didn’t matter! One less person to keep track of!

And I guess since they split book three into two seasons according to rumors, they needed to add some filler (which for GoT could be disastrous), which is how I explain the “Pod is amazing in bed” thing. I didn’t get it either, but I did laugh a little.

It’s funny, when Dana puts it that way – that Daeny has basically been doing nothing for 2 seasons – but at this point, it’s her storyline that I’m the most invested in at this point. I want so badly for her to finally get her chance to kick ass! (And really, really looking forward to her finally getting to interact with the rest of the world of characters on this show.)

I don’t think I’m quite at the point of sympathising with Jamie getting his hand cut off (but holy cow though, right?! Shocking ending for sure.), but I do quite enjoy the growing camaraderie between him and Brienne. Fun duo for sure. I can see myself starting to like Jamie more (if this continues) in the same way that I like Tyrion – in that I find him amusing and an entertaining character to watch, but despite how clever/delightful he is, I can never actively root for his success. Boo Lannisters, Team Stark/Daenerys! 😉

Bit bummed we didn’t get any Sansa or future queen of Joffrey’s to be whose name I do not know but I think her last name is Tyrell?, so I just call her Anne Boleyn as that was the character Natalie Dormer (the actress) played on The Tudors (and she was delightful on that show). Run-on sentence about not knowing character names aside and girl crushing on Natalie Dormer aside, I really like Sansa & Anne Boleyn, so they were missed by me this episode. It’s always disappointing to not having your faves in an episode, but understandable I suppose… darn this enormous cast for these sorts of instances.